Two weeks from today, the Abbey Theatre will go dark for the rest of the summer. Promises of occasional, as-yet-unspecified “events” over that period plus a couple of Dublin Fringe shows in mid-September notwithstanding, the fact is that the national theatre, the most heavily State-subsidised live performance venue in the country, has decided not to mount a single production for more than two months, and during peak tourist season at that. The oddness of the decision is highlighted by the fact that, a few hundred metres away, the Gate theatre is presenting a new production of Dancing at Lughnasa, which started life on the Abbey stage before going on to international success more than three decades ago.
Abbey management suggest the shutdown is part of the regular schedule of maintenance and refurbishment at Michael Scott’s ageing modernist block in Dublin 1, but no explanation has been forthcoming as to why works that might usually take two to three weeks are leading to a closure of such length, or why they have been scheduled at this time of year rather than during the low season of mid-January. The Abbey will return to production in late September, but an anticipated (and, by all accounts, expensive) new play by Marina Carr, billed as part of the theatre’s Gregory Project, has been further postponed.
All of this has direct implications for the livelihoods of actors and other theatre workers, as well as for audiences who might have a reasonable expectation that a national theatre should be open throughout the year. And, despite the Abbey’s protestations, it clearly represents a significant cutback on the theatre’s budgetary commitment to live theatre production in 2024. That raises serious questions yet again about what is really going on behind the scenes at the Abbey, which for almost four years has been embroiled in long-running controversies over costs arising from the departure of former co-directors Neil Murray and Graham McLaren.
[ The Abbey: Shadow of a controversy lingers at Ireland’s national theatreOpens in new window ]
Those costs, and the handling of the controversy, have led to recurring stand-offs with the Abbey’s principal funder, the Arts Council, which has held back scheduled payments pending the delivery of a number of reports on the theatre’s finance, culture and governance. There have also been at least two protected disclosures from former employees (including one jointly from Murray and McLaren), which are critical of Abbey chairwoman Frances Ruane and Minister for Arts Catherine Martin.
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The full amount of legal fees and other payments incurred by the Abbey remains opaque, but stands at well over €1 million. Reports commissioned at the insistence of the Arts Council on the theatre’s internal culture and governance have yet to see the light of day. Deirdre Falvey reported in these pages last year that the governance report was set to be delivered by September 2023. The Arts Council confirmed this week that it has still not been received.
On July 28th, a week after the Abbey goes dark, Ruane will step down as chairwoman, a position she has held since 2017. Her initial five-year term was extended for two years in 2022 by Martin. One reason for that extension, presumably, was to maintain some continuity while the Abbey grappled with its internal problems and Murray and McLaren’s successors, Caitríona McLaughlin and Mark O’Brien, bedded in.
It is worth noting from the incomplete information we do have on these matters that the Abbey board itself was deeply involved in the “HR investigations” and termination payments that gave rise to the as yet unexplained costs. However, Ruane’s departure severs the last link between the old regime and the new.
We know from other recent controversies that the departures of key figures from publicly funded institutions can be a grave impediment to finding out what actually happened when things went wrong at those same institutions. The chronicle of events that unfolded over the past five years at the Abbey – the breakdown of trust with its main funder, the confusion over the appropriate separation of public money from private income – raise obvious parallels with what has taken place at RTÉ. But at least the broadcaster has seen radical structural changes within the space of a year, while a number of highly critical reports on its internal affairs have been commissioned, completed and made available to everyone who wishes to read them.
Contrast that with the Abbey, which now promises a “new organisational strategy” is on the way after this summer’s shutdown. How can such a strategy even be devised when the report on governance has not yet been delivered? After years of delay and obfuscation, this summer’s shutdown and the explanations offered for it will do further damage to the Abbey’s dwindling credibility.
